Recruiting update(s)

[Loyal Coug1]

Oh, some new news to round off the evening.

Per the usual source (Brand X) we picked up:

Our first non-SDSU transfer (!), apparently reeled in from newly hired recruiting savant (and now former Cal Poly coach) Everette Thompson. This Poly behemoth, Nilasoni Finau, comes to WSU from FBS - oops - FCS powerhouse - oops - doormat Cal Poly! A RS Senior-to-be, Finau was recruited to Cal Poly prior to Paul Wulff becoming HC. So rest easy.

And Rogers has flipped another SDSU 2025 recruit, Connor Sullivan, making it 4 new HS signee transfers to date.

Cal Poly does have quite a few Poly players, including two from Samoa (not Finua). I wonder if the fact that the school name is "Poly" helps with recruiting Poly players? And I just saw that Timm Rosenbach and Steve Broussard are now Cal Poly coaches. Cougar connections all around.

 

[roses04]

I welcome Nilasoni Finau to the team. There are a lot of holes to fill on the D line, he may not be better than what we had, but he is better than what we have right now, which is close to nothing on the interior. According to what I can find 3 D linemen have left to to the following schools, Houston, Kentucky, and Virginia, 1 LB to the UW, and 3 Corner Backs to Miami, Mizzu, and AZ. Thats 7 players on Defense and I am not counting the ones that elected to become Dickert Demons. The big question here is if the Cougs had 7+ defensive players, which these power 4 teams wanted, why was our D so bad this year? I think the answer is pretty simple.

 

[Loyal Coug1]

Thursday morning update: We signed our 14th (?) SDSU portal transfer, OL Nick Bakken. His 64 snaps at SDSU in 2024 has prepared him for facing the 3 P4 schools WSU will face in 2025. Highly sought out of HS with offers from many name schools - oh wait his only offer was SDSU. More to come according to Brand X.

Oh and that retread coach that UNLV hired has chosen Lee Davis as his chief of staff. (link below). Chief of "staff" indeed. Rumor has it that Bobby Petrino sent Mullen his motorcycle as a congratulatory gift.

Lee Davis Named UNLV Football Chief Of Staff - University of Nevada Las Vegas Athletics

LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – Head coach Dan Mullen on Thursday announced multiple support staff additions, starting with Lee Davis who will serve in the new title

unlvrebels.com

 

[Coug90]

Thursday morning update: We signed our 14th (?) SDSU portal transfer, OL Nick Bakken. His 64 snaps at SDSU in 2024 has prepared him for facing the 3 P4 schools WSU will face in 2025. Highly sought out of HS with offers from many name schools - oh wait his only offer was SDSU. More to come according to Brand X.

Oh and that retread coach that UNLV hired has chosen Lee Davis as his chief of staff. (link below). Chief of "staff" indeed. Rumor has it that Bobby Petrino sent Mullen his motorcycle as a congratulatory gift.

Lee Davis Named UNLV Football Chief Of Staff - University of Nevada Las Vegas Athletics

LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – Head coach Dan Mullen on Thursday announced multiple support staff additions, starting with Lee Davis who will serve in the new title

unlvrebels.com

Oh man. This not looking good…

 

[Coug90]

I welcome Nilasoni Finau to the team. There are a lot of holes to fill on the D line, he may not be better than what we had, but he is better than what we have right now, which is close to nothing on the interior. According to what I can find 3 D linemen have left to to the following schools, Houston, Kentucky, and Virginia, 1 LB to the UW, and 3 Corner Backs to Miami, Mizzu, and AZ. Thats 7 players on Defense and I am not counting the ones that elected to become Dickert Demons. The big question here is if the Cougs had 7+ defensive players, which these power 4 teams wanted, why was our D so bad this year? I think the answer is pretty simple.

Our poly coaches better be camped in the South Pacific until spring ball. We need some serious reinforcements.

 

[Loyal Coug1]

Oh man. This not looking good…

Ya think? I am aware that most WW denizens are busy bickering over Covid and/or pointing fingers over the LA fire, but this is turning out to be a monumentally Wulffian staff and transfer class. I don't give a shit how good in FCS SDSU is. We are now signing their backup players. And acting (well Brand X is) like we are getting 4-star, proven FBS players.

 

[KRUSTYtheCOUG]

Ya think? I am aware that most WW denizens are busy bickering over Covid and/or pointing fingers over the LA fire, but this is turning out to be a monumentally Wulffian staff and transfer class. I don't give a shit how good in FCS SDSU is. We are now signing their backup players. And acting (well Brand X is) like we are getting 4-star, proven FBS players.

What would you have them do when our last coach quits just before the bowl game which followed the 2 coordinators also leaving, losing the starting qb, rb, defensive line, 2 cb, a lb. This coach was hired after the portal closed or close to it.

We had to fill about a third of the roster with something. I think some semblance of patience and understanding is required and expected. That's all I have to say about that.

 

[Loyal Coug1]

What would you have them do when our last coach quits just before the bowl game which followed the 2 coordinators also leaving, losing the starting qb, rb, defensive line, 2 cb, a lb. This coach was hired after the portal closed or close to it.

We had to fill about a third of the roster with something. I think some semblance of patience and understanding is required and expected. That's all I have to say about that.

UNLV (remember them? They didn't meet our metrics) was in about the same situation. Look how they are doing. FBS coaches, FBS transfers.

There is no excuse for hiring a completely unknown FCS coach who then brings in a bunch of completely unknown FCS coaches and 20 (and counting) FCS players, some of whom weren't even FCS starters. We couldn't even get the one player (their QB) who might be FBS-worthy. Which is fine. I like Zevi.

"Patience and understanding"? Yeah let's go with that.

 

[UberCougars]

Shouldn’t a “ Loyal” Coug LIPO before evolving into hyperventilating hysterics?

 

[Coug90]

What would you have them do when our last coach quits just before the bowl game which followed the 2 coordinators also leaving, losing the starting qb, rb, defensive line, 2 cb, a lb. This coach was hired after the portal closed or close to it.

We had to fill about a third of the roster with something. I think some semblance of patience and understanding is required and expected. That's all I have to say about that.

I’m not sure there’s a good answer here but it’s fair to be concerned. I’d assume Jimmy knows a little about the teams he’s going up against and he thinks these guys can play at that level. Sorta like you can’t take a coach and give him $2M more and make him a better coach, you can’t make a kid a P12 player by putting a Coug jersey on him. He either is or he isn’t.

 

[roses04]

What would you have them do when our last coach quits just before the bowl game which followed the 2 coordinators also leaving, losing the starting qb, rb, defensive line, 2 cb, a lb. This coach was hired after the portal closed or close to it.

We had to fill about a third of the roster with something. I think some semblance of patience and understanding is required and expected. That's all I have to say about that.

Ya Dickert screwed us by leaving when he did, he sped up our dropping in pecking order in the G5 Schools, with over 35 players hitting the portal. Rogers has only been on the job 2 weeks, hired during the holidays , and I believe a no contact period for recruits. Are FCS players with some experience better than 3 star true Freshman? Probably. Over half the 2 deep roster is gone, at one time over 35 players were in the portal, a few have elected to stay. Trying to replace 22-25 players in 2 weeks, and keeping the recruits in the system is an impossible task. Hopefully they can find some gems that are left over in the portal, if you are not a high profile player and if you haven't signed by now, chances are you weren't getting offered much money. Now is WSU's turn to find search through the scraps over the next few months and hopefully sign another player or two that can contribute. Right now, if the Cougs were still in the Pac 12 from 2 years ago, they would be picked to finish last and probably wouldn't win a conference game. Looking at the schedule they have next year, I hope they can find a way to win 6 games. Not being pessimistic, just trying to look at this realistically. Hopefully Rogers can pull a find a few gems, but for those bitching about anyone we sign right now is foolish. Hot girls don't sign up to be with fat ugly guys, unless they have money, and we don't have that either.

 

[chugspig]

Maybe we are planning to drop to FCS and McCoy doesn’t have the heart to tell us yet.

All jokes aside, there really isn’t much to do right now for them besides add players from their program they think will help, and start hitting left over portal players.

It’s not like Dickert where he was already in contact with FBS transfer portal players and recruits. I think Rogers will be capable of recruiting well, but he was on a totally different level until 2 weeks ago. He was maybe contacting a few Midwest FBS portal players to see if they wanted to drop down. To expect some influx of D1 transfer portal guys, while part of his time on the job has been no-contact and holiday is pretty crazy. He was put in about as disadvantaged spot as you could be for recruiting and portal stuff. Hard to judge his ability on Dec 29-Jan9 working schedule.

I do still agree with the coaching worries though. Why did we allocate 4.5m for a pool, and hire guys you could get for 200k-300k presumably. At least to this point.

I’m neither overly excited with what we’ve seen to this point or worried based on the amount of time he’s been on the job and the constraints.

 

[KRUSTYtheCOUG]

Roger's will get another track at recruiting with the next portal opening in the spring (or whenever that is) so that could give us a better insight to his eye for FBS talent and his ability to sell the program.

As of now, my sort of serious but not really serious concern is we have T.M.W.G's p. Taihtsat

 

[Loyal Coug1]

I’m not sure there’s a good answer here but it’s fair to be concerned. I’d assume Jimmy knows a little about the teams he’s going up against and he thinks these guys can play at that level.

Why would an FCS coach from South Dakota know anything about the uw, Ole Miss or Virgina other than reading the sports page? I think you meant "knows little" or perhaps "knows nothing". I guess we do now have a coach that played for uw back when they went 0-12, so I guess there is that insight.

Enough of that. I am done ridiculing - I mean posting on this topic - for now. One last gem just posted at Brand X:

Jimmy Rogers scores major win over Power 4 schools: Kamani Jackson withdraws from portal and returns to WSU​

So, let's see. A true freshman DB who didn't play a down in 2024 pulls out of the portal (likely because he didn't get a sniff from any other school, and why would he?) and that becomes a "major win over Power 4 schools". That is beyond ridiculous. How hard was crack Brand X reporter Jamey Vinnick laughing when he came up with that headline?

That said, I'm glad the kid is staying.

And Krusty - WTF is "T.M.W.G's p"?

Oh - I almost forgot. I hope all these South Dakota transfers aren't graduates of the Kristi Noem School of Gun Safety. Pullman dog owners and that guy with the herd of critters by Sunnyside Park are probably scared shitless about now.

 

[Coug1990]

Why would an FCS coach from South Dakota know anything about the uw, Ole Miss or Virgina other than reading the sports page? I think you meant "knows little" or perhaps "knows nothing". I guess we do now have a coach that played for uw back when they went 0-12, so I guess there is that insight.

Enough of that. I am done ridiculing - I mean posting on this topic - for now. One last gem just posted at Brand X:

Jimmy Rogers scores major win over Power 4 schools: Kamani Jackson withdraws from portal and returns to WSU​

So, let's see. A true freshman DB who didn't play a down in 2024 pulls out of the portal (likely because he didn't get a sniff from any other school, and why would he?) and that becomes a "major win over Power 4 schools". That is beyond ridiculous. How hard was crack Brand X reporter Jamey Vinnick laughing when he came up with that headline?

That said, I'm glad the kid is staying.

And Krusty - WTF is "T.M.W.G's p"?

Oh - I almost forgot. I hope all these South Dakota transfers aren't graduates of the Kristi Noem School of Gun Safety. Pullman dog owners and that guy with the herd of critters by Sunnyside Park are probably scared shitless about now.

Two P4 schools were recruiting him hard from the portal. One of them was WF. The other was a school that recruited him hard out of high school. That is how he gets a sniff from P4 schools.

 

[Lollapalousa]

QB from Arizona Reilly Garcia

 

[Loyal Coug1]

Two P4 schools were recruiting him hard from the portal. One of them was WF. The other was a school that recruited him hard out of high school. That is how he gets a sniff from P4 schools.

QB from Arizona Reilly Garcia

1990 - was that in the premium article(s)?

Lolla - Did I miss something?